California, Oregon and Washington are uniting to isolate vaccine guidance and other public health recommendations from political intervention, which is the U.S. President Trump and Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
government. Gavin Newsom of California, Tina Kotek of Oregon and Bob Ferguson of Washington announced Wednesday that the West Coast Health Alliance was established, a deal that aims to unify their state’s health policies and build on scientific expertise. The move comes as Kennedy and his vaccine-doubted allies reshaped the top public health agency in the United States, where the main leadership was fired and fired amidst the turmoil.
“President Trump’s massive dismissal of doctors and scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and his blatant politicization of institutions — is a direct attack on the health and safety of the American people,” the three governors said in a joint statement. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has become a political tool that increasingly peddled ideology rather than science, which will lead to serious health consequences. California, Oregon and Washington will not allow people in our states to be threatened.”
In June, the three states issued a joint statement condemning Kennedy’s decision to remove all 17 members of the CDC’s Immunization Practice Advisory Committee. Among the alternatives named by Kennedy, there are those appointed Conspiracy theories for spreading vaccine misinformation and transmission According to the Associated Press, the period was during the pandemic on the 19th.
Kennedy said the change would improve public trust by ensuring that committee members do not have “any specific support or anti-vaccine agenda.”
Kennedy warned that the agency could have more turnover.
In an announcement from the newly formed West Coast Health Alliance, states said the focus will be on providing evidence-based advice on who should be immunized, while ensuring the public has access to reliable information on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. The alliance will share immunization advice, but each state will also adopt an independent strategy based on “unique legal, geography, history and people.”
California must stand with medical professionals, said Dr. Erica Pan, a California Department of Public Health and national health official.
“The demolition of public health, dismissing experienced and respected health leaders and consultants, and the lack of evidence to use science, data and evidence to improve national health puts life at risk,” Pan said in a statement.
